Stressed Chameleon

[CaesarMeleon]

Hi, I have a 8 month old female veiled chameleon. the past couple of days she has gotten very stressed out by something in her cage. I will walk into the room and she will be almost black, take her out however and she quickly brightens up. The humidity is between 60 and 80% and the temperature in her cage is 75F on the side without the heat lamps and 90F on the side with them. She drinks healthily but is eating less, and sleeps more often. I am at a loss as to what could be bugging her and causing these mood changes. Any ideas?

 

[ChamDE86]

Sorry to hear your cham isn't doing too well. Please fill this out and be descriptive as possible as this will help us better understand what is going on with your cham. Also, if you could provide us with some pictures of her and her enclosure, that would be very helpful!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[CaesarMeleon]

Caesar, 8 month old veiled chameleon, normally handled a couple times a week, she eats about 45-60 large crickets a week, one batch of 15 will have calcium supplement dusted on them, i have a constant water drip going and will feed her water out of a cup a couple times a week. Poop looks healthy with feces and urate both being normal colors/size/consistency. As long as I have had her she has not had any problems in the past.

Her cage is a 24"X 24"x 48" aluminuim framed cage with screen, I have a 26w UVB bulb that is on during daytime hours and a 150W infared/UVA bulb that runs constantly. The temperature is around 75F on the side of the cage without the heatlamps and around 90F on the side the heatlamps are on, humidity ranges from 60-80%. There is a live golden pothos hanging in the cage with fake vines an a couple fake hanging plants. The cage is placed in front of a window that gets a lot of sun about 2 feet off the ground, located in the northeast USA.

The problem is she is getting very angry and stressed at something. Turning almost black and staying that way while sitting on her vine. however, Take her out of her cage and she brightens up, gets her colors back and her puffed chin calms down. She has been drinking the same, but eating less, and she is sleeping more.

I dont have any pictures of her angry and i'm sorry for teh quality of the cage pic.

 

[LilBlue]

Hi, she looks very healthy in those pics. Cage could use a few more branches and plants, though, especially around the basking area so she feels comfortable up there. She may becoming gravid for the first time, hence the color changes. Or, going through her teenage phase, on her way to be being a lovely grumpy veiled that most people have lol. You have a light that runs constantly? No need for night heat, unless temps dip below 60's F, and then you would want to use a ceramic heat bulb. Light, even the "night" bulbs will upset their sleep, also need to be able to cool down at night is very good for them, it helps them get a good sleep. They will turn dark when basking to help absorb the heat/light. So when you take her away from the light, she will return to normal colours, unless gravid or mad. Have you set up a laying bin for her?

If she is in the window with full sun all the time, your temp readings could be off, as you might not know the temps during the day when you are not around. Windows filter out all the beneficial sun rays, but I have found that it is still physcologically simulating for them. I open up the blinds in my cham's room, and it will shine on half of his cage and he loves sitting in that light.

Eating less - sign of being gravid(or stress from being too warm?)Sleeping more, may be because of the heat. Or even seasonal. I noticed a sleep pattern change in my guys when winter came.

Well there's my two cents, I think I addressed everything you wrote.

 

[CaesarMeleon]

thank you! As it turns out the real culprit was a painting of a cat I am working on. I noticed that when i put her back today she didn't turn grumpy. I went back to my painting and the painting was flipped over. When i flipped it back so you could see it i noticed that she changed color again. But I do need to set up a laying bin for her and im going to take your advice on the heat lamps. Thank you again!